Saint Patrick's Day Nails!


Being 25% Irish, and also having noticed all of the Saint Patrick's-inspired nail art flooding Instagram et al, I had to have a bash at St. Paddy's nails! I always intended on hand painting a clover on my thumbnail, but originally I was going to attempt a tartan design on the rest. However, after realising how complicated this would be, I quickly decided to go for the simpler technique of Mondrian-esque colour blocking! I can't say I'm a massive fan of green, but placing a pale shade alongside deep forest green, yellow and white makes for eye-catching nails.


The equipment:
  • NYC 'Pinstripe White', Models Own 'Jade Stone', No. 7 'Totally Teal', Fearne 'Lemon Drizzle and NYC 'Carrie'd Away' as a top coat
  • Pale and dark green gems from my cute little set 
  • Narrow nail tape
  • A fine paintbrush
  • Tweezers
I began by painting my finger nails with two coats of white, and my thumb with two coats of teal. Once dry, I applied the tape. I stuck one strip vertically on all of my fingernails, and then added two horizontal strips to either side. This creates four different sized boxes, and ensures clean, straight lines of your chosen base colours. I filled in the boxes carefully, and waited until all my nails were completely dry before removing the tape with tweezers.

Now for the shamrock nail! Using a fine paint brush, I applied the leaves and stem. This was a very slow process, as I wanted to ensure all the leaves were exactly the same size and shape! I also wanted to ensure very smooth edges. Once dry, I used the yellow nail varnish to highlight the clover, and then added dark green gems to the leaves and a pale green gem to the centre.
As always, I finished with a top coat. Although it looks peachy coloured, NYC 'Carrie'd Away' is a good alternative to a completely clear top coat. NYC brushes are also very broad and soft, and so help to avoid any smudging. Overall I'm really pleased with how these turned out, and I'll definitely be colour blocking again with my trusty nail tape in the near future!

Askruk46

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